WCW Clash of the Champions XXIV

Date: 08/18/1993

Location: Daytona Beach, Florida — Ocean Center

Announcers: Jim Ross & Tony Schiavone.  

The Setup

This was the final blowoff for a Vader vs. British Bulldog feud that spanned three to four months on television in some form. Most of the matches were good, but a guy who never even had as much as a WWF title match came right in, and almost exclusively was working main events right away. 

Arguably, the top two babyfaces in the company, Ric Flair & Sting, teamed in a nothing tag match against GWF alums, the Colossal Kongs. Dustin Rhodes was also debuting a mystery partner against Rick Rude and the Equalizer because Lord knows they needed Equalizer with Rhodes and Rude already struggling in the ring. 

The Business 

The show did an impressive 3.8 cable rating. That was their best Clash rating on six Clashes since a November ‘91 show that had the first-ever Sting vs. Rick Rude match did a 4.7. The mystery announcement for War Games that turned out to be Shockmaster may have piqued some interest. 

This was another heavily freebie show from Daytona with 8,903 in attendance and only a $20k ticket. The free television interest did not translate into ticket sales, but it also allowed Eric Bischoff to improve the television lighting on major shows. 

Results/Ratings

NWA & WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Arn Anderson & Paul Roma def. Steve Austin & Lord Steven Regal (c) — 9:52 ***

Too Cold Scorpio def. Bobby Eaton — 5:26 *1/4

Johnny B. Badd def. Maxx Payne — 2:41*

WCW World Television Title Match: Ricky Steamboat def. Paul Orndorff (c) — 8:31 **1/2

Ric Flair & Sting def. The Colossal Kongs (Awesome Kong & King Kong) (w/ Harley Race) — 2:14 NR

Dustin Rhodes & Road Warrior Hawk (w/ Road Warrior Animal) def. Rick Rude & The Equalizer — 7:41 1/2*

WCW World Heavyweight Title Match: Big Van Vader (c) def. Davey Boy Smith — 11:11.  ***1/2 

Snap Bumps

-The headline here was the all-time Wrestlecrap segment with the Shockmaster’s debut on A Flair for the Gold, where he fell on his ass. One of the things not mentioned enough, because the fall as he came through the cheap breakaway wall took all the infamy, but him miming like he was speaking, and Ole Anderson’s stupid Black Scorpion tape not playing yet was priceless. 

-Shockmaster was only there to take the originally planned Road Warrior Hawk’s spot in the upcoming War Games PPV match. Hawk couldn’t come to terms on a long-term deal. He was willing to work the Clash, but Meltzer suggested he didn’t want to fully commit to WCW because of Jim Crockett and Paul Heyman’s WWN project. 

-Road Warrior Animal was announced as Dustin’s partner initially, but when Rude acted like they had known that for weeks, Hawk came through the crowd behind their backs to a massive pop. That was extremely well done, but then the Equalizer happened. 

-Apparently, the mystery partner for Dustin angle happened the way it did because WCW was unsure Hawk would be there for the Clash, so they made a deal with Animal.  Despite being out on a Lloyds of London instance policy, they would have him appear in Dustin’s corner as a backup plan. Both men had not been on speaking terms since their WWF departure, so it was weird when Hawk finally agreed to have a match on the show but not the PPV. The crowd was megahot for the team with loud “LOD” chants. 

-Bulldog and Vader had another very good match. Bulldog’s strength was a good match for Vader’s size. 

-The Flair and Sting match was really just a commercial for a Saturday TV babyface title match between the two. If you haven’t seen that match, give it a whirl. It’s one of their more underrated bouts. The match here was a quick squash against the Kongs, as it should have been. 

-You would have expected Steamboat and Orndorff to be better, but Steamboat’s style with the quick pins and multiple nearfalls didn’t seem to mesh well with Orndorff’s slower style. By this point, Orndorff had been with the company for about eight months, and it felt like they could have gotten more mileage from him. 

-The Badd vs. Payne feud resulted in no good matches after the Baddblaster to the face angle, but it was also so fucking weird how their big show matches only got four minutes or less. Why bother? 

-Cactus Jack attacked Vader after the main event, furthering their storyline for Havoc. Cactus Jack is a good example of someone I would want to see in a big show match more than once against Vader instead of Bulldog’s four matches. 

-The Equalizer was embarrassingly bad, including doing simple things like running the ropes. The crowd was so hot for the in-ring return of Hawk and the on-screen return of the Road Warriors, but his presence alone made the match absolutely atrocious. 

-The tag title match was better than the prior month’s PPV match with the actual Hollywood Blondes, but it also didn’t go for almost half an hour. It seemed the most over Anderson & Roma were as babyfaces until now. 

-The Regal replacement for Pillman was that Pillman legitimately injured his ankle, and they already shot multiple weeks of TV with Arn and Paul Roma (and eventually the Nasty Boys) as tag team champions. 

-Scorpio and Eaton seemed like a great idea on paper, but Scorp had a total off-night on live national television and messed up multiple highspots, including the 450 finish where his knees crashed into Eaton’s face. Fucking ouch. 

-The company broke up the Hollywood Blondes, with Pillman out with the ankle injury. Their last match as a team was on 08/09 against Mark Starr and Frankie Lancaster, which aired on the 08/29 edition of WCW Saturday Night. There were rumors on and off about them teaming again, but sadly, it never happened. 

The Verdict

The Shockmaster segment is so awful that it became delightfully entertaining, but the matches weren’t very good outside of the opener and the main event. The Flair and Sting tag wasn’t a good use of their two most popular wrestlers, but it was also fun for what it was. I guess I can thumbs in the middle here.